Character Creation
There are basically two different ways of creating a character. The Quick start offers a simple solution without the need of much customization. Use it to jump into the game as quick as possible. The professional start offers a solution for role play experts or players who want to be in control of every single stat. There are also compromise solutions between both creation methods. In both scenarios, the players will chose a so called class, as well as a specific destiny. They will also give their character personal data like name, date of birth and a preferably detailed back story. Last but not least the player choses the skills of his character. Before chosing between quick and professional starts, let's look at some of the game's basic elements like classes, destinies, attributes and fields. If you are the game master and let your players create their characters you can play this playlist for setting the right atmosphere. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1sshClB5F9R3ZizgAeafwP?si=ZOdx9azxQiy09oc4b5sPTQ Classes A class in Unitum is like the basic template for a character so the creation doesn't need to start at zero, but instead already provides a rough vision for the player, where the journey will go. In many other role playing games the word "class" actually means playing a specific "race" (e.g. in a medievil setting this could mean chosing between playing an elv, an orc or a centaur). Since in Unitum every player will play a human, the classes are independent of race and origin. Rather, a class in Unitum sets the basic 'beliefs' of the character, not (neccessarily) in religious aspects, but more in a general, life-perceiving aspect. So for example, the Gainsayer can't believe in anything what he doesn't see with his own eyes and is therefore locked out for some 'spheres' of the game like having psychic experiences or developing spiritual skills. On the other side we have the Seeker who's belief is that there are lots of unsolved mysteries and unknown secrets in the world, so his ultimate goal is to solve those mysteries. A goal that would most certainly be totally uninteresting for the Gainsayer class. Beliefs are a core element in Unitum which is why all of the 10 basic classes are created around them. Beliefs can be the source for psychic / spiritual power or secret knowledge, as well as muscles are for physical power. Additionally to the 'setting' reasons why there are classes in the game, each class sets the values of the character's so called Characteristics. There are 8 different characteristics that define the basic layout of the character. In short, they define 'how you are'. When playing Unitum the most important questions will always be 'how you are' and 'what you are able to do'. So the character class provides the first half of this premise. As already told in the Getting Started section of this players will often be tested if they succeed in the actions they perform. For every action that is not clearly assignable to one specific skill (like car driving), the characteristic values are used for any checks. For example, if the player just wants to lift a heavy rock, then there is no Lifting-skill, but the game master can check for the Physical Power characteristic. If the player needs to remember something or solve a puzzle, the game master could check for Cogitation, and so on. Characteristics form the basic structure of each character and are therefore not easily changed during the game. Finally the class defines which fields can be set as key talents and regular talents. Later in the game, when the player will chose a destiny and set field and skill values, he will have one field that he can learn and develope especially fast (key talent) and two other fields (called regular talents) that can still be developed faster than the other fields. A class provides three unique fields that can be selected as key talent. No other class will have those fields as an option. Additionally the class provdes a set of fields that can be assigned as regular talents. There can be more than one class with the same options. For a detailed overview take a look at the Classes page or take a look at each individual class in the 'Game Mechanics' section of the site's navigation. Destinies & Fields After selecting a class it is time for the players to chose a destiny for their character. Unlike the class which determines the basic 'beliefs' of the character, the destiny resembles more or less his 'drive', his deepest motivations in life. This can be a profession (such as Carpenter or Sportsman), but can also mean a vocation or a certain path the character has commited to go along (such as Cultist or Missionary). Each destiny derives from the selected class and there are two preset destinies for each class in the game. Earlier we said that the player's character defines WHO he is, HOW he is and WHAT he is able to do. The destiny lays the foundation for the character's abilties by providing a certain set of so called 'fields' and determines their initial values. Fields in Unitum are a category of skills that the character can learn and develope during play. There are physical fields like Craftsmanship and Sports, psychic fields like Telepathy and Psychokinesis , spiritual fields like Nature Manipulation and Channeling, social fields like Communication and Impression, knowledge fields like Health Sciences and Occult, as well as the three Weaponry fields Close Combat, Projectiles and Explosives. Every set of each destiny is unique and not the same as any other destiny. Furthermore each destiny sets one field as so called 'key talents', as well as two other one's as 'regular talents'. As discussed in the 'classes' section of this article, the player will be able to develope those fields much faster than other fields. Key talent and regular talents were chosen from the set that was provided when selecting a class. For example, the Parapsychologist sets Hypnotherapy as his key talent, Impression and Occult as regular talents. Although a destiny can develope up to 7 indivdual fields, key talent and regular talent fields are the ones that the character will focus during play and will set the basic gameplay experience. Key talent fields will always start at 50%, regular talent fields at 40%, all other fields (two to four additional fields, up to seven in total) will start between 10% and 30%. Levels Often the game will ask for a player's current characteristic or field 'level'. There are five levels in the game, which resemble the current state of progression concerning characteristics, fields and skills. There are five levels in Unitum: * I - Beginner (5 - 20%) * II - Apprentice (25 - 40%) * III - Adept (45 - 60%) * IV - Expert (65 - 80%) * V - Master (85 - 100%) Those levels are for example used when determining the initial stats like Health and Stamina. They are also used when calculating damage or other values when using game actions. Important: Since skills don't have percentage values of their own, whenever a skill level is to be evaluated, the player simply counts the filled stars on the Talent Tree Sheet (1 to 5 stars). Skills Skills represent the individual abilities of each character. Each field consists mostly of three or rarely of four different skills. The field Stealth consists of the three skills Sneak, Lock picking and Theft. Skill checks are the type of check that players will roll the most during game play. So it's important to consider during character selection what basic game style is desired in the game. Skills will always use their respective field as base when evaluating a skill check, but can also be developed and improved by players during play to specialize on certain skills. See Skill Rolls for more information. The players can now set their initial skill levels by filling in their so called Talent Tree Sheet. See the link for more information. Character Sheet After chosing class, destiny and setting their initial skill levels, players can start to fill in their Character Sheet. The sheet consists of three pages: 1 - General Information + Values On the first page the player fills in personal data like name, gender, nationality and so on. Below are the Characteristics, that can be copy pasted from the class values. The values should be written in the 'Current' column, not 'Modification' (can become important during play). Players can write the level of the characteristic next to the value so they don't always have to recalculate, Initial levels of characteristics are also visible in each class article of this wiki. Again below are the initial Stats for Health, Stamina, Focus and Spirit. See the links for more information about the different stats. In the bottom there are two fields, one for the money you currently have with you (including the amount you have access to via creadit cards or other paying methods). Next there is a field for your current amount of Experience Points (XP). See the link for more details on how to gather and spend experience points during play. Below there is some space for a back story of the character. Even though it's not required to fill in the character with as much detail as possible, it's recommended. The game can get much deeper and richer if players know their character's past and can play around with the facts. 2 - Posessions On the second page, the personal belongings of the character are listed. There is one section each for weapons, clothing, consumables and other items.To set the initial items, players can say what would fit to their character / class / destiny and talk with the game master if the items are allowed and about effects or values. 3 - Passive Effects + Successes The last page lists passive effects and successes. Passive effects (or buffs / debuffs) can be persistent, given for example when reaching certain skill levels, or can be temporary, like from consuming food, drinks or medicine. Every player can write down his / her individual successes, like winning an important argument, slaying an important enemy or stealing an important item. This way the successes are not forgotten and can at some point (like at the end of a story chapter) be rewarded individually by the game master (like addtional Experience Points, rise of characteristics or other boni). After every player has filled in their charcter sheets and was introduced to the basic rules of the game, you can start with Chapter I - Among Owls And Wolves or the story line. Please enjoy! Below there are the two different approaches on how to create a character. All of them follow the basics described above. Quick Start The Quick start is basically the creation order that was described above. Players select one of the ten preset Classes, the select one of the two preset destinies for that class (twenty in total), then sets initial skill levels and fills in personal data, stats, belongings and passive effects on the character sheet. After those steps the group is ready to start their adventure. Professional Start If you are not a fan of using presets ad want to create everything yourself, that's no problem. Every class and every destiny was created using the same system (to create a balanced game experience) and you can use the same system to create classes and destinies yourself. Creating a Class When creating a custom class you have to set the initial values of the eight characteristics, also you need to provide a set of key talent / regular talent options. When setting the initial char value, you spend so called 'creation points' (CP). Please refer to the below cost table to see the costs for each initial char value. You can spend exactly 108 points to set the values. Max. value for a char is 70%. You can't set other values than the ones listed below: Besides you need to set the key talent / regular talent options. For key talents chose three options that are not the same as any existing class. Only select fields where the base characteristic is minimum level III (for option Sports, characteristic value of Physical Power should be value 45% or higher). To check the base char of any field, refer to the Field Overview table where base chars are highlighted in yellow. For regular talent options chose up to five fields that are not the same as any other class. Only select fields where the base characteristic is minimum level II (for option Stealth, characteristic Dexterity should be value 25% or higher). Creating a Destiny When creatin a custom destiny you can either derive it from an existing class or from a self-created class. Select one of the key talent options provided by the class as key talent. Set the initial field value to 50%. Select two of the regular talent options provided by the class as regular talents. Set the initial field values to 40%. Now you can assign another 80% in any other fields you like, not more than seven in total (together with talents). Don't set the initial values higher than initial values of regular talents, so 30% at max. It may happen that you can't spend every %, based on how many fields you start with. For every 10% you can't or don't want to spend, write 1 experience point on page one of your character sheet. You can spend the points the next time your character levels up during the adventure. After creating the destiny the next steps are the same as in the quick start (set initial skill levels, fill in character sheet).